Mark of the Ranger

XXI. The Highlands

          David stepped first out of the wall of foliage. The rest of us soon followed, along with the Boneshambler. I was thinking of a name for him(Elena confirmed he was a he), but nothing came to mind. We took a few steps on a significantly wider path before we heard a shouting voice. "HEY! WHO GOES THERE?" The voice called out. I turned to see that a Highland Ranger was charging towards us. He wore a broadsword strapped to his waist. A broadsword was definitely a rare weapon for a Ranger, so I was actually curious to see that Ranger in combat.

          "Who are you?" The Highland Ranger asked us when he reached us. The Ranger was at least six and a half feet tall, telling me that he was clearly either an Asmerian or an adult. When he saw the Boneshambler, he jumped and drew his broadsword. "That's a Boneshambler!" We immediately leaped to defend our new pet. "Calm down, Ranger!" I said to him. "This is our pet. His name is...Marrow." I simply spat out the name I had last thought of. I looked at my teammates to see what their reaction was--It was mostly expressions of approval, good for me. Even the Boneshambler liked that name--It gave a toothy smile.

          The Highland Ranger snorted. "Right. Can it do tricks?" I looked at Elena. She shook her head and shrugged. I turned back to the Ranger and shook my head no. "Anyway, we would like to pass. We are escorting the new Grand Wizardess..."--I pointed to Isabel--"...And we need to reach the grand council by the end of the month. It is imperative that we do so, sir." Now that I explained what six Outland Rangers, a young wizardess, and a Boneshambler were doing on the border of the Highlands, the Ranger seemed just fine with us. He nodded. "You may pass."

          We thanked him and continued down the path. The path was simply a dirt road, but it was very smooth, much smoother than the path in the Shamblethorn Wood. The scenery was much nicer, too, going so far as to make Marrow enjoy it. His eyes were meant for darkness, but he slowly began to adjust to the cloudless brightness of the beautiful Highlands, which we had taken our Lenses of Sight off for. To the right of the path was the famous mountain of the Highlands, Mount Blessing. To our left, there was a large lake, almost like a sea. That fed into the river that led to the ocean, which was uncharted. 

          I also noticed that, from the very beginning of the path, we were steadily rising. When I looked back at around noon, the trees of Shamblethorn Wood were only the size of pins. I looked around at that point, expecting to see some great view, but the rest of the land was at the same height. If I wanted some grand scenery, I probably wanted to climb Mount Blessing. Then I could see the entirety of the wonderful Highlands that Jeff and Karen so loved.  

          It was about noon, of course, when we stopped to have a lunch of mana bars. We fed Marrow our other foods, as we didn't really need them since we had mana bars. He seemed to really love fruit, but the lunch of berried that we had given him wasn't enough. He dashed off for a moment, and we continued on, thinking that Boneshamblers were not loyal creatures. However, just a few minutes later, Ko saw a figure in the distance. "I think Marrow's back, but he's carrying something," he told us. Sure enough, when the figure drew closer, we saw it was clearly Marrow, and when he reached us, we saw the thing he was carrying was an entire cow corpse. 

           We watched in hysteria as Marrow devoured the cow corpse right in our faces. In moments, it was gone, bones and all. "He must eat the bones to strengthen his own, both armor and skeleton," I mused. It made sense, too, based one what we had seen. I even thought that I saw his armor grow a little, but I may have been imagining things. 

          As Marrow licked his chops, we continued on our journey. A while later, as the sun was descending and my feet were beginning to tire out and become sore, Ko saw a village ahead of us. "It can't be more than a mile or two!" he called with relief. I sighed, looking at my worn boots. However, once I took my thoughts off of the journey, I made a small realization. "Is anyone else quite warm?" I asked, taking off the hooded cloak and crow's-head mask that we wore. With those garments off, I felt quite a bit cooler. My team followed suit, answering with variations of "Yeah," and "Well, now that I think about it..."

          We cloakless Rangers continued walking on the rather smooth dirt road, with the village in sight. It drew close with every step, but I decided I was bored and broke into a run for the town. Marrow soon joined me, effortlessly speeding ahead, as he had twice the legs I did. I called him out for unfairness, but he simply ignored me. My team cried out to wait up and began to tun after me. With all of us dashing, the village came closer at a much faster rate. 

          When I finally reached the village, I saw that Marrow was waiting for me. I stroked his ears affectionately, then looked up at the village sign. Written on there were the words "Cabrio Town." Marrow and I waited for the rest of the team to join me. Ko and Elena came first, as elves, both wood and snow, were quite fast. Next was Isabel, then David, then Jeff and Karen. 

          "Cabrio town, eh?" Jeff panted, placing his hands on his knees. I was unsure for a moment why he was tired, but then I remembered that he hauled a one-hundred-pound hammer on his back, so I excused him. "Yep," I confirmed. "Shall we find an inn?"

          We found a nice little place for us to stay just a few yards down the road. I booked us in for four rooms, and Isabel paid. "We don't allow pets or horrifying beasts inside the inn," the innkeeper reminded us. I waved off her concern. "Do not worry, he won't leave anything on your fancy carpets." The innkeeper still looked at us suspiciously as we walked up the stairs, but she didn't say anything else. 

          I decided I was sleeping in a room with Jeff and Marrow. David and Ko were in one, Elena and Karen in another, and Isabel took the last one by herself. Suddenly, Isabel doubled over just as we were unlocking our rooms. Karen ran up to her. "What is it?" she asked her charge. "Th-the Wizarding Guild," Our Grand Wizardess spluttered. "It's been attacked!"